Take Me: The Complete Series (Power Play #1-4) (15 page)

“Sounds like he was being a real asshole,” she says, as soon as I finish telling her about our little run-in with Declan.

She raises her cocktail to her lips, sipping from it with a satisfied look on her face. The music in the club is loud, but not obnoxiously so. Narrow hallways connect various rooms in a labyrinthine way. It’s only nine o’clock and the club is already pretty busy with beautiful people everywhere.

“He’s been acting so strange, lately.”

“There’s nothing strange about it,” Tawny says, simply. “He saw you with that British hottie and felt threatened.”

“Maybe.”

“Come on. You can’t deny that Isaac is one of the hottest guys in the whole city. I mean, he’s pretty hot just to look at. But, that accent… Any guy would feel threatened by him.”

“He called me a few times today.”

“What did he say?” She gives me an interested look.

I shrug. “I never answered. I don’t feel like talking to him. In fact, if I didn’t have to see him at work on Monday I probably wouldn’t talk to him for a while. He really pissed me off.”

She scowls on my behalf.

“That’s how guys are. And the hotter and more arrogant they are the more they like to piss you off.”

“I’ll drink to that,” I laugh. We clink our cocktail glasses together and each take a drink.

“Hello, who’s that?” Tawny leans in toward me, her neck craning as she says it.

Her eyes are locked on a tall man, carving his way through the crowded room. He stops occasionally to talk with whoever is around, but he doesn’t stay in any one place for very long. His spiky, blond hair and clean-cut look make him appear way too young for the designer, three-piece suit he’s wearing.

When he looks our way, he pivots to walk over.

“Dibs,” Tawny says, quickly straightening herself and putting a huge smile on her face.

I have to admit, he’s an attractive man. The way he moves through the crowded room denotes a certain level of comfort. He exudes assuredness with every step he takes. When he reaches our table he hovers there for a second, giving each of us a smile in turn.

“Ladies, I trust you’re having a pleasant evening so far?”

“It just got a lot better,” Tawny says. She doesn’t even try to hide the fact that she’s basically eye-fucking him.

The assured smile on his face is a tight one. It’s obvious he’s no stranger to women hitting on him.

He holds his hand out to her.

“Black. Calvin Black.”

She places her hands in his, beaming up at him.

“Tawny Roberts.”

He fixes her with a confident smile and her eyes get all bright and glazed over. I can’t blame her. There’s something extremely sexy about the way he holds himself.

He glances over at me, his eyebrows rising, but he doesn’t take his hand away from her.

“And you are?”

I give him a tight smile.

“Hannah Barnes.”

He nods, smiling between the both of us.

“Well, Tawny Roberts and Hannah Barnes, I hope you enjoy your time in my club. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to make your night a little more…” he runs his eyes up and down Tawny’s body, her hand still held in his, “…special.”

When he turns to walk away, Tawny is basically ready to crawl on hands and knees after him. It takes her a few moments to finally come to her senses.

“Did you hear what he said? He said this is
his
club!”

I grin at her. “Yes, Tawn, I was sitting right here.”

She bites her lip, a giddy smile erupting on her face.

“Looks like I’ve found my next regret…” She gives me a devious look and I shake my head at her. “Now, let’s go find some hotties and have them buy us more drinks.”

“But I haven’t even finished mine, yet.” I lift it to show her the half-full glass.

“You’re totally missing the point, Hannah.” She gives me a look. “Just follow my lead and try not to say anything too embarrassing.” Her brow pulls together for a moment as she considers what she just said. “Oh, who am I kidding? You’ve got more guys chasing after you than you know what to do with.
I’ll
follow
your
lead.”

I let out a laugh as she pulls me away from the table.

It doesn’t take Tawny long to find a couple guys standing near the bar. Even less time passes before they’re buying us both a round of cocktails. I’m trying to play the part of her wing girl, but Tawny is a natural when it comes to flirting. Before long she’s got both guys interested in her, and she’s just going back and forth, feeding off their energy.

I tune out of the conversation, my thoughts slowly shifting over to Isaac. I wonder if he’s thinking about me right now, too? I promised myself I wouldn’t do it, but I don’t even think before pulling my phone out to see if he’s texted me.

The screen is blank.

Perhaps I’ll text him just to see what he’s doing? There’s no harm in that, right?

“Staying out of trouble?”

I watch patiently for a response. It doesn’t take long before my phone lights up and starts buzzing. I quickly abort the call and send another text.

“Can’t talk, in a loud club with Tawny.”

“Tease.”
A grin spreads across my face as the phone buzzes a second time.
“What are you wearing?”

“A violet sundress.”

“And underneath it?”

Heat rushes to my face, but that doesn’t slow me from typing out my response.

“A red lace thong.”

“Girls only wear stuff like that when they want someone to see it.”

“Who do you think I should show it to?”

“Me.”

“But you’re not here…”

I bite my lip waiting for a response. It feels like forever before one comes.

“Slide them off and take a picture.”

My heart is racing as I actually consider doing it.

“LOL. I’m in the middle of a club.”

“Come on, kitten. Get creative…”

A smile spreads from ear to ear as my mind goes racing. I can’t believe that I’m actually thinking about doing something like that. I can’t even remember a time I’ve ever sent someone a picture message. And I’ve definitely never sent one of my panties. But the excitement in me is racing so hard that I can’t be held responsible for my own actions.

I give Tawny a light tap on the shoulder.

“I’m going to the ladies room.”

“Oh, I’ll come with…”

My eyes widen. “No, it’s fine! I just need to… handle something. I’ll just be a few minutes.”

Her eyes narrow and she gives me a suspicious look. Thankfully she doesn’t pry any further.

“Don’t be long. I’ll wait here.”

I nod at her.

The ladies room is nice and I’m surprised to find an attendant in there. I feel like some kind of secret spy or something as I hide away in one of the stalls and slip my panties off each leg.

I spend the next few minutes trying to drape them across my hand in just the right way to show them off while not making it obvious that I’m standing in a bathroom stall. I’m really terrible at this picture stuff.

Finally, I get just the right angle and send the picture over to Isaac.

The attendant gives me a look as I quickly make my way past her, washing my hands before leaving. I’m pretty sure she knew exactly what I was doing the whole time in the stall. Thankfully, in a city of over eight million people, I don’t have to worry about ever seeing her again.

I slip back out to the bar where I find that Tawny is no longer talking to the same guys from before. Instead, she’s talking to someone else.

Calvin Black is at her side, apparently having scared the others off, and she’s practically got her hands all over him. I don’t want to interrupt, so I keep a safe distance as I return to my phone.

There’s another message waiting for me.

“That might be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“:) Your turn.”

I’m ignoring everything around me as I stare at my phone, waiting for a response. My grin is pulled wide with giddy anticipation.

When it finally buzzes, my eyes widen to see a picture of Isaac’s hand wrapped around his enormous cock. It’s fully hard and includes the message,
“He misses you.”

Warmth rushes down to my core as I glance back up to see that both Calvin and Tawny have disappeared. But I’m too distracted to care where they may have gone off to.

I’m about to type out a response when I feel a presence close in behind me. A man’s breath brushes across my neck as a familiar voice speaks.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

I spin around to see Declan peering over my shoulder. He’s looking right at my phone. The picture of Isaac’s cock is still plainly visible on its screen.

“Declan! What the hell are you doing here?”

My mind is racing. Why in the world is he standing there? And why in the world did it have to be at the exact moment that I was looking at a picture of another man’s cock?

He gives me a flat look.

“We need to talk.”

My brow knits together as I shake my head.

“No, seriously, how the hell did you know I was here? Are you following me or something?”

This makes it two nights in a row that Declan has randomly dropped in on me while I was out. New York City is a big place. There’s no way this is a coincidence.

He frowns.

“Of course not.”

“Then how in the world is it possible that you’ve randomly dropped in on me two nights in a row?” I give him a hard stare. “Tell me what’s going on, Declan. I’m getting sick of this shit.”

He lets out a frustrated sigh, but bobs his head.

“Last night really was by chance. Tonight wasn’t.” I lift a brow, waiting for him to continue. “A friend of mine gave me a call, a man you met earlier…”

I give him a confused look.

“Calvin Black?” I say.

He nods.

“Calvin and I go way back. He recognized your name and called to see if I would be joining you.
That’s
how I knew you were here.”

I give him a hard look. The story seems to make sense, but it doesn’t explain why he decided to come all the way down here.

“Fine, but you’re interrupting a nice night with my roommate. It’s Saturday, we aren’t at work.”

His eyebrow cocks as he glances down at my phone.

“I don’t see your roommate anywhere around here…”

My face tightens.

“Get to your point, Declan.”

His blue eyes are intense as they stare at me, but finally he lets out a sigh.

“We need to go somewhere to talk.”

“We’re somewhere right now. So, talk.”

He shakes his head.

“Not here, somewhere private. What I have to say is for your ears only.”

I’m about to refuse him again, but he gives me a look that lets me know he’s being serious. I don’t know what it is that he has to tell me, but I do know when something is bothering him.

“Fine. Where can we go?”

“I know a place.”

His hand hooks behind my arm and I let him lead me through the maze of hallways that connect the different lounges of
Club Addiction
. We make our way down a final corridor that’s lined with closed doors on either side. Each of the doors has a name, and Declan stops at one labeled
Excess
. He pulls a card from his pocket and slides it through a magnetic reader. There’s a buzz and a green light appears, signaling that the door is unlocked.

“What is this?” I ask as Declan holds it open for me.

The lighting is low, and there’s luxurious, plush furniture elegantly decorating the tiny room.

“These are the VIP rooms,” he says, shutting the door behind us. A lock clicks into place when it shuts.

I cock an eyebrow at him.

“You mean the sex rooms?”

A tiny smirk tugs at the corner of his lips.

“I’m sure there are all manner of things that happen in these rooms.”

I give another quick look around, scrunching my nose in disgust. I guess that means I won’t be finding out how comfortable the couch is—which is a shame.

“So what are we doing here?” I ask, turning back to him.

He gives me a serious look before letting out a long breath.

“There’s something I needed to talk to you about.”

“Yeah, you mentioned. That’s why we’re here. Now, start talking.”

He gives me a look, hesitating before he speaks.

“It’s difficult to put into words.”

My insides tighten with anticipation. Declan is a straightforward man, it’s one of the things I appreciate most about him, and if he’s having a hard time saying something then it really must be a big deal.

“There are some things going on that I haven’t told you about.”

I shake my head. “Like what?”

He gives me a tight look before walking further into the room. His fingers rub at his lips and he looks like he’s struggling to find the words to use. My mind is racing to figure out what he could possibly have to tell me. Is this going to be his big confession of love? Is he going to stop beating around the bush and come clean about being interested in me as more than a friend?

Finally, he looks back at me, his gaze resolute.

And then he begins telling me the last thing I ever expected to hear coming out of his mouth.

“There are some things happening at BMG that I haven’t been totally honest about…”

I’m a flurry as I race out of the club. I don’t even bother to try and find Tawny, she can take care of herself. My heart is racing so fast that it feels like it’s going to explode, and there’s only one person that I can think of that might be able to make me feel better. I just need a distraction, something to take my mind off of the earth shattering news that Declan just shared with me.

An eternity passes before I’m able to hail a cab and get dropped off outside of the St. Regis Hotel. Moments later I’m outside of Isaac’s room, banging loudly on the door. I wipe at the tears beginning to form in my eyes.

Isaac opens the door and looks genuinely surprised to see me. That knowing smirk flashes across his face.

“Well, hello, kitten.”

The only thing he’s wearing is a white robe. He’s holding a craft beer bottle in his hand—he empties it with one long pull before setting it on the hutch nearest the door. When he turns back to me, he studies me for all of two seconds before that smirk melts into concern.